(1)The council of any county, county borough or county district may acquire by agreement—
(a)any land (whether or not being land designated by a development plan as subject to compulsory acquisition) which they require for any purpose for which a local authority may be authorised to acquire land under section sixty-eight of this Act;
(b)any building in respect of which a building preservation order has been or could be made by the local planning authority, and any land comprising or contiguous or adjacent to it which appears to the Minister to be required for the purposes specified in subsection (1) of section sixty-nine of this Act.
(2)The powers conferred by the preceding subsection shall not be exercisable by a council except with the consent of the Minister, unless the land which is to be acquired either—
(a)is immediately required by the council for the purpose for which it is to be acquired, or
(b)if it is not so required, is land within the area of the council,
and shall not be exercisable except with the consent of the Minister in respeot of corporate land.
(3)The Lands Clauses Acts (except the provisions relating to the purchase of land otherwise than by agreement and the provisions relating to access to the special Act, and except sections one hundred and twenty-seven to one hundred and thirty-two of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845) shall be incorporated with this section; and in construing those Acts as so incorporated—
(a)this section shall be deemed to be the special Act, and
(b)references to the promoters of the undertaking shall be construed as references to the council authorised to acquire the land under this section.